Ripiphoridae

Wedge-shaped beetles Temporal range: Albian–Recent PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Ripiphorus diadasiae male. Note the characteristically small elytra and flabellate antennae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Superfamily:	Tenebrionoidea
Family:	Ripiphoridae Laporte, 1840 proposed[1][2]
Subfamilies
Ripiphorinae

Ripiphorid triungulin on a braconid wasp wing

Ripiphoridae (formerly spelled Rhipiphoridae) is a cosmopolitan family of some 450 described species of beetles sometimes called "wedge-shaped beetles". Ripiphoridae are unusual among beetle families in that many species are hypermetamorphic parasitoids, an attribute that they share with the Meloidae. Members of the family differ in their choice of hosts, but most attack various species of bees or wasps, while some others attack cockroaches. Many species of Ripiphoridae have abbreviated elytra, and flabellate or pectinate antennae.

Species that attack bees typically lay their eggs on flowers. There the eggs hatch almost immediately into small planidial larvae and lie in wait for a visiting host. The planidium mounts the bee and rides it back to the hive. There it dismounts and seeks a cell occupied by a host larva. The planidium then enters the body of the host. It changes its skin and shape, then remains more or less dormant until the host larva pupates. It then emerges from the bee pupa and begins to feed. It eats the entire pupa, then pupates in its turn and completes its metamorphosis before emerging from the hive to mate and lay eggs.^[3][4]

Fossil species in the genera Paleoripiphorus, Macrosiagon, Cretaceoripidius, Flabellotoma, Burmitoma, Plesiotoma, and Amberocula have been described from mid- to lower-Cretaceous amber from sites in France, Germany and Myanmar.^[5][6][7]

Genera[]

Data sources: i = ITIS,^[8] c = Catalogue of Life,^[9] g = GBIF,^[10] b = Bugguide.net^[11]

Extinct genera[]

• Subfamily
  • † Batelka et al., 2018 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
  • † Batelka et al., 2016 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
  • † Batelka et al., 2018 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
  • † Alekseev, 2019 Baltic amber, Russia, Eocene
  • † Hsiao & Huang, 2017 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
• Subfamily
  • † Batelka, 2017 Baltic amber, Russia, Eocene
  • † Kaupp & Nagel, 2001 Baltic amber, Russia, Eocene
  • Tribe Ripidiini
    • † Batelka et al., 2018 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
    • † Falin & Engel, 2010 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
    • † Perrichot et al., 2004 , France, Cenomanian Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian
    • † Cai et al., 2018 Burmese amber, Myanmar, Cenomanian

References[]

External links[]